Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 187, Issue 7, Pages 1401-1410Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx384
Keywords
mental health; mortality; record linkage; young caregivers
Categories
Funding
- Health and Social Care Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency (HSC R D Division)
- Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Northern Ireland Government
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/L007509/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [1352333] Funding Source: researchfish
- Public Health Agency [STL/4918/13] Funding Source: researchfish
- ESRC [ES/S00744X/1, ES/L007509/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Due to the focus of studies about caregiving responsibilities on older caregivers, there has been a deficit of research on young caregivers. We aimed to investigate the association between caregiving and health/mortality risk in young caregivers when compared with their noncaregiving peers and older caregivers. A census-based record linkage was implemented, linking all residents enumerated in the 2011 Northern Ireland Census with subsequently registered deaths data, until the end of 2015. Among those aged 5-24 years at the 2011 Census, approximately 4.5% (19,621) of the cohort reported that they were caregivers. The presence of a chronic physical condition (such as mobility difficulties) and/or mental health condition was measured through the Census; all-cause mortality was assessed by official mortality records. Young caregivers were less likely than their noncaregiving peers to report chronic mobility problems (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.84, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73, 0.96) but more likely to report chronic poor mental health (adjusted OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.31, 1.58). They also differed from older caregivers (P < 0.001) and were at significantly higher mortality risk than their peers (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.14). A dose-response relationship between hours devoted to caregiving duties and mortality risk was evident. We found that young caregivers were at significantly increased risk of poor health outcomes.
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